Philips Hue Secure, Signify, Perifo and HomeKit Secure Indoor/Outdoor Cameras will Support the New Smart Home Standard Matter
Things are looking brighter for smart home owners. The new smart home standard Matter has caused delays and uncertainty in the update of the Philips Hue Bridge. The September update will allow users to connect their systems with other Matter devices. With this news, every existingPhilips Hue product will work with Matter, going back to 2012’s original bulbs.
Philips Hue Secure is launching this fall with a wired indoor/outdoor camera ($199.99), a battery-powered indoor/outdoor camera ($249.99), a full-color floodlight camera ($349.99), and new contact sensors ($39.99) to secure windows and doors.
The Matter update seems pretty timely, given it’s nearing the holiday season and smart home owners may want to deck the halls with connected lighting systems. To that end, Signify is releasing some new lights this fall, too, including one particularly festive set.
The second generation of Festavia string lights adds the ability to work outdoors — not just indoors — and come in three different lengths: 100 LEDs on an 8-meter cord, 250 LEDs on a 20-meter cord, and 500 LEDs on a 40-meter cord. The lights can be purchased for $399.99, $2199.99 and $359.99. Signify also announced the arrival of the Hue Perifo track lighting system in the US. The system allows for both wall and ceiling mounting and has a variety of customization options. The track lighting, which is available in white and black, ranges from $19.99 to $299.99. All will hit US stores in September.
Many people will feel that private protection is worth paying more for, as the products from this company look nice, seem well-made, and offer the type of privacy protection that many people will be willing to pay more for.
At launch, there is no compatibility with Amazon Alexa or Google Home, although George Yianni, head of technology at Philips Hue, said that they are working on an integration to view live footage on those companies’ smart displays.
The cameras won’t work with Apple Home if Matter isn’t supported. HomeKit secure video isn’t supported at this time. You will need to pay a monthly fee of $3.99, and a yearly fee of $39.99, per camera to view recorded footage.
The only difference between the wired and battery cameras is that the wired camera is larger. The battery is estimated to last four months and comes in either black or white. The battery can’t be removed, and you have to take the battery down to charge it. It is possible to power it with Philips Hue’s low-voltage outdoor cables ($29.99) designed for its outdoor lighting.
The battery camera comes with a small magnetic mount, which you can attach to a shrub or flower pot.
Philips Hue Secure Contact Sensor for Home and Office Using Zigbee Networks and End-to-End Encryption
The new Philips Hue Secure contact sensor comes in black or white for $39.99 for one, or $69.99 for two. When the system is armed or not, they use the Zigbee network to send an alert or make lighting automations happen. They are basic contact sensors, but no motion-sensing features.
While the cameras work as stand-alone devices, you need the bridge for most security features, including the contact sensor, floodlight camera, light and sound alarms, and automations. There isn’t a need for cameras for the security system. According to Yanni, if you already have motion sensors and Hue lights, you’ll be able to set up security automations to flash your lights in the new Security Center in the Hue app.
The Security Center is where you manage the security system and set up the different ways you want it to react when you’re home or away. When a sensor is triggered while armed, the app sends an alert, and you can take action to flash your lights, sound the alarm, or call 911 or a trusted contact directly from the app.
The camera’s recording state is also determined by arming and disarming. The cameras don’t record if the wi-fi is shut off, so that’s why it’s disarmed. The wired version uses an optical sensor, and the battery version has a PIR sensor. They then send the signal over Zigbee to the bridge.
On-device processing of smart alerts for people, packages, and vehicles, plus end-to-end encryption turned on by default, means footage should be secure and only accessible by you.
If you want to record video, you have to pay for a cloud plan starting at only $3.99 a month for up to 10 cameras and $9.99 a year for more than that. The recordings will be uploaded to the cloud, which will hold them for 30 to 60 days. There are activity zones and smart alerts that need a paid subscription to work.
They look similar design-wise and have the same solid feel and quality materials. However, Google Nest cameras are cheaper — $179.99 for the battery-powered one compared to $249.99 for Hue’s. But Google doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption — a feature that is not common and much sought after with security cameras.
As a security system, it feels a little underdone at launch. It appears to be all manually triggered — so you have to see and act on one of the alerts (there’s no option for professional monitoring). You’d also need a lot of Hue light bulbs, or a few very expensive outdoor light fixtures, for the flashing lights to really attract any attention outside of your home, so how effective a deterrent this will be remains to be seen.